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Some words about David Cassidy, who died yesterday at the relatively young age of 67. It made me sad because, while I later became a critic, I was a huge fan of his as a kid and got to meet him.

I was a baby when The Partridge Family–based on the family band The Cowsills–had its first run on TV in the early ’70s. But later in that decade and in the early ’80s, reruns of the show were on after I got home from school, and I watched religiously. Not that I liked the show–it was cheesy. But, like many American girls, I had a crush on the good-looking star, David Cassidy. Not only was he good-looking, but he was talented. He could act, sing, and play the guitar decently. (I also liked his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy, who starred in “The Hardy Boys.”)

Had the hugest crush on David Cassidy as a kid. Used 2 watch Partridge Family reruns after school every day. Then I met him backstage in Detroit when he starred in musical "Little Johnny Jones." He was so nice, so classy, a mensch. This is so sad #DavidCassidy#RIPDavidCassidy

David Cassidy was so popular in the early ’70s that, sadly, a teen girl died in a stampeded at one of his UK concerts. His name and face continued to sell out teen magazines, such as 16, Teen Beat, and Tiger Beat, pop publications that essentially lived off of his image.

Later, Cassidy’s real star turn was as a gritty undercover police officer on a couple of shows. He was nominated for an Emmy playing Officer Dan Shay on Police Story. He got so much critical acclaim that NBC bet its money on Cassidy, giving him his own show as Shay on David Cassidy – Man Undercover. But it only lasted ten episodes. In those days, Americans were less willing to see their teen idols as serious police detectives in a darker story and setting.

So, when I was in college at The University of Michigan, I drove home to see Cassidy as the star of the touring company of the patriotic musical Little Johnny Jones at midtown Detroit’s Fisher Theater. As a kid and into my college years, my parents were season ticket holders and “patrons/sponsors” of the theater, so they regularly got center front row seats (or seats pretty close to that) to most plays and musicals that played there. They often took us kids, to teach us appreciation for the stage. My parents knew the theater owners and often took us backstage to meet the actors. I had front row seats to see Cassidy in the play, and I met him backstage after the show. He was super nice and a class act, spending a lot of time talking to me, a total stranger and fan. I really appreciated it. In those days–before the internet and smart phones (or cell phones at all for anyone but the truly super rich)–nobody took selfies. Instead, we got autographs, and Cassidy signed my autograph book (which I still have somewhere). Cassidy was a total mensch.

Fast forward a couple decades later, and while I was once a fan of Cassidy, I became a critic who got attacks and death threats from his now-middle-aged fans. Cassidy never quite reclaimed his career from teen idol status, and part of that was because he was a raging, lifelong alcoholic. He also did some really weird, disturbing things. In 2009, I wrote about a weird interview Cassidy did with his daughter, actress Katie Cassidy, who had brief success on teen shows on CW. David Cassidy did not raise his daughter, who was the product of a relationship with model Sherry Benedon. In the interview, Cassidy talked about how he liked his daughter doing lesbian kissing scenes on one of her shows. It sounded like he was turned on by this. That creeped me out and reminded me of showbiz’s other warped Hollywood pimp dads, like Billy Ray Cyrus (who encouraged and excused his meal-ticket daughter Miley’s gross hyper-sexualization; Sean Hannity calls him “a Great American”).

After I criticized Cassidy and the weird stuff he said in the interview–very inappropriate for a dad talking about his own flesh and blood–I heard in droves from crazed David Cassidy fans. They left comments, and they sent e-mail messages, some of which were death threats and wishes. These are grown women who were already in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Apparently, they never grew up. I also heard from Cassidy’s babymama, Sherry Benedon, who wrote comments on this site agreeing with me.

I felt bad for Cassidy, but not that bad. He was a tremendous talent and had it all because it was handed to him (he was from a showbiz family and lucky to be blessed with good looks; his half-brother, Shaun Cassidy of “The Hardy Boys” TV fame, was another of my teen idols). Yet, he threw it away in a very sad existence. Hollywood is fickle, and you have to strike quickly while the iron is hot. Cassidy did, but screwed it up. I do think he suffered a little from being typecast as a teen idol and not a serious actor or musician. But, also, he was clearly an alcoholic. He had multiple arrests for drunk driving and incidents related to drunk driving (such as hit-and-run/leaving the scene of an accident). And he acted erratically at concerts, forgetting words to songs, exhibiting drunkenness on stage, and disappointing fans who paid their hard-earned money to see him. His good looks faded quickly, as they often do with alcoholics. And he was yesterday’s news, struggling to survive financially, and having to file for bankruptcy. He performed in small clubs and had endured multiple failed marriages and relationships (a)mong his wives was Kay Lenz of “Rich Man, Poor Man” TV miniseries fame. I pitied him. It was sad and hard to see someone I had admired as a kid sink so low. (Contrast his career with that of his equally good-looking Partridge Family co-star, the stunning Susan Dey. She had a long successful run as a TV star in shows like “L.A. Law” and TV movies.)

Then, early this year, Cassidy announced to the world that some of his more recent erratic concert displays were due to dementia, which ran in his family and struck his mother. I felt even sadder for Cassidy. Most Americans know someone who has been stricken by this condition. My maternal grandmother died of it a year after my late father died of cancer. But my grandmother was out of it for decades, having been mentally scarred by the Holocaust (in which almost all of her family was murdered by the Nazis) and then afflicted by dementia for a very long time. So, I was saddened when I heard Cassidy’s announcement that he had the disease, too. It’s painful to watch it claim a person. And 67 is relatively young, today.

Last week, when I heard Cassidy was stricken with liver failure and in the hospital awaiting a liver transplant, I knew it was probably his end. I had mixed feelings because, while this was someone of whom I was once a fan, I oppose alcoholics getting liver transplants. There are many people who need new livers because of illness and disease that is not of their own doing. They are innocent victims of poor health. They are the ones who are worthy of liver transplants. Alcoholics, on the other hand, actively destroy their own livers with every drink they take. And since there aren’t enough livers available for everyone, we need to put a priority on those who don’t actively destroy their organs.

After having admired Cassidy and met him, after having been treated so well by this super nice guy, I’m sad to hear that Cassidy has passed. But, hopefully, he is now at peace, after a life of so much turbulence and misfortune, some of it of his own doing. I will remember him as the talented, good-looking, super nice, menschy guy I once met. And I’ll remember him as the guy who sang “I Think I Love You” and “Come On, Get Happy” making millions around the world happy, even if he had little happiness himself.

David Cassidy, Rest In Peace.

David Cassidy with Partridge Family Co-Star Susan Dey

***

By the way, in case you’re wondering, Cassidy was a registered Democrat and a big liberal. As with other showbiz types, I wish he would have kept his mouth shut on politics. Though I was never a fan of Mitt Romney (“Mitt Happens”) and lost my respect for Newt Gingrich during the 2012 Presidential race, I scratched my head, when I learned Cassidy said this on “The Colbert Report”:

I believe the both of them are the most embarrassing, sad, pathetic … I mean, really, this is the best we can do?[

One might say, Look in the mirror. (Shaun Cassidy is also very liberal, by the way.)

***

Cassidy’s former Partridge Family co-star, Danny Bonaduce, FYI, is a lot more conservative (and I believe he’s a Republican). I used to know him when he lived in and hosted a morning radio show in Detroit and was on his shows in Detroit and Los Angeles a few times. He understood the dangers of Islamic terrorism and jihad.

39 Responses

Yup, just a few years older than me, not a whole lot. And having known a number of alcoholics, including now, one who may in fact die very soon of cirrhosis, I have to agree with Debbie about the liver transplant thingy. And the one I know now, like so many others, WILL NOT stop drinking, so . . .

hard to put someone like that high on a list for a liver transplant.

Very sad about Mr. Cassidy. I enjoyed the early songs, the campy nature of the Partridge Family show, even in my young adult years. David Cassidy was indeed talented, and I was chagrined to read of some of the episodes of the past several years as they hit the news. That’s what living a depraved life will do to you.

The strength and comfort of The Lord Jesus Christ to all his loved ones and fans everywhere.

Hi Debbie- I enjoyed your write-up on David Cassidy. I agree with your thoughts. Not just about David, but also about the transplant issue. I first found you by chance a few years ago on an older posting of yours about lesbian basketball players.

Life is full of choices but also circumstances and fate. Drinking booze is a choice, not fate, a circumstance or a disease. Having experienced alcoholism in my own family, I know what a devastating addiction it is. But it still is a choice to drink. And Mr. Cassidy may have developed the dementia more quickly because of the heavy drinking. But may he rest in peace, as God forgives those who ask for forgiveness. Remember that Lot was referred to as a righteous man in the New Testament despite the fact that he got drunk and impregnated both of his daughters.

Similar to the question of whether the late Glen Campbell’s drinking and drug use (especially cocaine) had hastened his Alzheimer’s.

But there’s another ’70’s icon (fah!) who’s now battling dementia – Helen Reddy (“I Am Woman”) who, in terms of some of the songs she recorded (notably “Delta Dawn,” “Leave Me Alone (Ruby Red Dress)” and “Angie Baby”), if not point-by-point specifics, could be considered the Taylor Swift of her day. It does seem a case of “tick . . . tock . . . ” with her now, too.

Helen Reddy, huh? Personally, I thought Delta Dawn was her best. Haven’t heard of her since the 70’s, thought she just drifted away, didn’t know of a “life style” problem with her. Gotta look her up, just to refresh.

Just went to take a look. She can be excused. Didn’t know she was 76. That’s 15 years older than me, and nine older than David Cassidy. Since 76 is pretty close to 80, that’s not bad, especially if she led a wild life.

Alfredo from Puerto Rico on November 26, 2017 at 2:22 am

Hi Dear Debbie! Thanks for sharing! Sad Sad day for me and all those who loved David! RIP David Cassidy! Rest in Peace David!God bless! Tirdad.

So sorry to hear about someone else from my childhood dying. I remember too as a kid Debbie in the 80s watching The Partridge Family reruns when I got home from school. That and The Brady Bunch Good Times and Mister Cartoon. It was sad to learn that Cassidy had dementia as I had an Aunt who died from Alzheimer’s a few years ago and my cousin took care of her until she passed. It is a very sad way to go and yes 67 is too young to be gone. Cassidy was just one more of these Hollywood types who sang happy songs and had it all but suffered greatly from his own personal demons. I think that this weekend I’ll watch some Partridge Family and Hardy Boys DVDs. Not just to see David but also to look at one of my little boy crushes in Susan Dey. May he finally rest in peace and thanks once again Debbie for the trip down memory lane.

Wow, thank you for the good write up Debbie. You are right (that 67 is relatively young these days). And you are also right that David Cassidy ruined his own health, but – if I’m not mistaken – his own father (Jack Cassidy) wasn’t a very good role model. Here’s a link to David Cassidy on an episode of Malcolm in the Middle (sorry about the crappy quality):https://youtu.be/lx8mV9ImNa4

It was a sad end to a once promising career. Unlike the spawn of many show biz people, he was genuinely talented. However, his addiction dashed his career prospects and left him in a twilight zone. David Cassidy was reduced to being the butt of jokes on World’s Dumbest.

David Cassidy was virtually born into show business. His father, Jack Cassidy, was a very talented award-winning actor, best known for his TV work and was a favorite villain in the legendary Columbo detective series, appearing three times. His stepmother, Shirley Jones, was terrific actress and singer and has starred in some of my favorite filmed musicals, including Oklahoma, Carousel, and The Music Man. Both Jack and Shirley performed with the legendary Gilbert & Sullivan master Martyn Green in a performance for President Eisenhower of the songs of Victor Herbert and Rogers and Hammerstein. (This was back when the White House actually had some top-quality culture, rather than just pop stars of varying talents.) His mother, Evelyn Ward, was also very talented, performing on Broadway and as a guest in many TV shows.

But family life was far from idyllic, despite the glamor. David’s father Jack was bipolar and was an alcoholic. He was also bisexual. (According to Shirley Jones, Jack had an affair with the legendary composer Cole Porter.) In the mid-1970s, during one of Jack’s drunken evenings, consisting of going from one bar to another, he fell asleep on his highly flammable couch while smoking a cigarette. The cigarette fell on the couch and ignited. Jack tragically died in the blaze.

His dad Jack was drunk at home, passed out and basically burned to death in his home. The stories about heredity are indeed true. David was never the actor his father was, but he was but another decent human who destroyed himself with alcohol.

I feel bad that David Cassidy died. He deserved to stay around a little longer. It’s a shame he never really got his life together. Hopefully,he’ll get the tributes that Bonnie Franklin and Florence Henderson NEVER got when they died. That’s because they had the misfortune to die at the time of people like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.
Fortunately,Charles Manson died a few days before he did. In my view,Manson and his followers deserved to be executed. It’s sad that that moratorium on the death penalty in the seventies precluded that. Few are going to mourn that monster and if I happened to be in the area where he’s buried,I’ll dance on his grave. Manson,Chavez,and Castro deserve nothing but scorn. Their legacies are strewn with misery,destruction and death.

Cassidy,Franklin,and Henderson’s legacies are far brighter. Theirs are to be found in the smiles they brought with their shows. I hope that David Cassidy gets the attention and tributes that Bonnie Franklin and Florence Henderson didn’t get when they died and that’s a shame. Hopefully,it won’t be that way this time around. And before I go,RIP David Cassidy. You should have been around a lot longer and deserved a little better from life You’ll be missed.

One factor in the failure of “David Cassidy – Man Undercover,” besides his not being able to live down his “teen idol” reputation, was that it aired on a network – NBC – that at the time was dead last (in large part due to the heavy-handed reign of Fred Silverman), propped up by the successes of Bob Hope specials, the left-leaning (even then) “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” – whose host had joked in that period that the network’s initials had stood for “Nine Bombs Cancelled.”

But it’s not just with alcohol where one’s liver can be shot (though it was in Mr. Cassidy’s case). I am of an age (only a few years older than Debbie) where some children going through the school system (in the ’70’s) were doped up, on orders from school administrators, on Thorazine – which, in repeated and sustained doses, can inflict the same damage to the liver that repeated drinks of alcoholic spirits can do. All so the children would “sit still.” (Or more likely, fall asleep.)

But viz Bonnie Franklin and Florence Henderson, I remember Debbie being critical of both in their respective obituaries. In the former’s case especially, for good reason. And as for Manson, I’m sure I’m not alone in using “R.I.H.” send-off wishes.

With regard to what Jean said, there is an interesting short article on Yahoo! News, picked up from People magazine about David Cassidy’s relationship with daughter Katie. Not going to link it, but it’s easy to find. Having children and being a parent, especially in broken families, is a tough row to hoe.

Besides my own story, I have been able to watch other children grow in to adults, become parents, then grandparents, and then watch their children grow up, with some becoming parents.

Lots of turmoil surrounding family situations in America since the end of WWII. With the advent of The Cultural Pancake Flip, which began 54 years ago yesterday, and ended on or around December 31, 1969, even more so.

I’m old enough that I watched the Partridge Family when it was first run. Back then the Osmond 5, Jackson 5, and Cowsills were all popular. While I enjoyed the antics when Kieth and Danny, or Danny and Mr. Kinkaid would team up, I really was watching in order to see Susan Dey.

I still remember Cassidy being interviewed on a radio show and the interviewer commented that back in the day he was disappointed when his hair didn’t look like Kieth Partridge’s. Cassidy replied, “Think how I felt when my hair didn’t look like Kieth Partridges”

Given the point about “The Partridge Family” modeled after the real-life Cowsills, it is somewhat ironic that two people who worked behind-the-scenes on the Partridges’ records also had the same involvement on one Cowsills’ hit, “Indian Lake”: writer Tony Romeo (who also penned the lone Partridge #1, “I Think I Love You”) and producer Wes Farrell. Some members of The Cowsills, from what I read, had their own problems with substance abuse not unlike Cassidy and even Danny Bonaduce – most notably lead singer and co-producer Bill Cowsill who died in 2006.

And back in the 60’s, we all know what was going on at places like Indian Lake.

Sex, drugs, rock and roll, making many contributions to the downfall of “this once great republic.”

If anyone notices the ages of the people who have been dying, they are all the older Baby Boomers, those who are now between about 67 – 73. While technically, those born before the end of WWII are not Baby Boomers, they are culturally.

The last four or five years of a generation sets the cultural tone for the next. It is the same with Generation X, as it really starts with people who were born on or after January 1, 1960. This is the dividing line between people who remember 11/22/1963, and the impression it made, and those who don’t, or were too young to really “get” the impact.

The older Baby Boomers, those who did not remain conservative like their parents, lived hard and fast lives. Those who didn’t die in their 20’s like Janis and Jimi, and actually made it to old age, are dying at what is still considered a relatively young age.

Take a look at their ages, all the people in music who have died over the past couple years in particular. It is sadly, the result of choices they made while they were shaping The Cultural Pancake Flip half a century ago.

While we’re on the subject of food, especially since for me the main course yesterday was 1 lb. of Beef Pastrami from Muncan’s, a question.

What part of the cow is the sill? I know about the tenderloin, flank, etc.

Oh, and on a related subject, for New York Jets fans, especially for one who’s been one since Joe Namath’s rookie season.

If you can remember watching Monday Knight Football 31 years ago tonight, it was the game I have dubbed The Knight The Franchise Dyed, a/k/a The Night They Burned The Seats.

Which they did. And to be sure, it was a cold and windy night. But let’s get real, mostly northeastern football fans won’t mind 20 degree temperatures and 20 mph winds. The game announcers and newspapers next day tried to convince us it was because the fans wanted to keep warm.

There’s a reason why Jesus will return before the Jets even get IN to another Super Bowl, let alone win one. It is embodied in the phrase “here we go again.” And the game played in the old Meadowlands Stadium that night was emblematic of that phrase.

And at THAT point in NY Jets history, we had already become accustomed to “here we go again.” That night carved it in stone. They burned the seats because of “here we go again,” you schmucks, not because it was too cold for the wussie northeastern football fans, LOL!!!

Debbie. Love your column whether it’s rhetoric or critic. But I have to take exception to my silence on this one:

While I appreciate your comments about Mr. Cassidy, I can’t help but feel sorry for you and your fellow laudettes’ socialized thought process.

You lament his abuse of alcohol as abhorrent and justification for any potential treatment (transplant) that could have otherwise been provided to someone ‘more worthy.’ That is a SJW line of reasoning. It’s popular….but not with too much merit. Step back. Reset. Post anew.

1) How many people get transplants after destroying one of their organs through negligence? LOTS. The myopic consternation of alcohol abusers getting liver transplants is just that… myopic and, I thought, better of you than this. What about the new cornea for the guy that trashed his in front of the lathe? The gum tissue for the gal that never brushed? The heart for the LGTBQXYZ that only exercised between the sheets? The examples are endless. Do you deride them? No. Because it’s the ‘in thing’ to disrespect a dead alcoholic with liver disease. I thought better of you.

2) What if he drank heavily his entire life and died from ALS? Would you lambaste him? How about colon cancer? Would you lambaste him? How about a stroke? Would you lambaste him? Your centralized focus on his use of alcohol and his liver diminishes your argument. This is what I call a ‘false positive through negative correlation.’ In other words, you’re looking for a source of scorn and you adhere to the most popular. I thought better of you.

3) We all die. 100% guarantee. Anything you do to reduce the potential of something killing you NECESSARILY increases the potential for something else to kill you. It’s math. It’s life/death. Would you have posted such a hit piece if he dropped dead from a heart attack while jogging around Central Park? Your laser thin reduction of Mr. Cassidy from a great artist to a mere dung-pile that deserved to die is totally without merit. I thought better of you.

After 30 years in the military I have seen lots of folks die. Some from warfare, some in training, many through ‘natural’ causes. While some tried to lay blame on this or that… they still died. When I was mentoring my troops, I always told them a simple fact: “Everyone dies. In 100 years no one will care how, unless you died a hero.” The SJW crowd has, somehow, changed that and adopted you.

Do us all a favor and extricate yourself from that niche of the SJW camp. People die. Deriding their lifestyle instead of lauding their life is not what you should be focused upon.

Thank you JC for putting it better than I planned to write. I would suggest that the author do some true research on alcoholism. Her judgmental writing shows her ignorance on the subject. Just what we need in the world – more liberal rhetoric by someone who really doesn’t know what she is talking about.

Another holier than thou blogger who knows nothing about alcoholism or David Cassidy. Alcoholism is an inherited disease. Usually passed down by the Father. How you can think anyone chooses to live a life of misery by choice is obvious ignorance. Go have another shot of your favorite dessert,coffee and read a medical journal on addiction. And read a David Cassidy biography on his background and upbringing. Larry Batman from Dallas and I dream of Genie got a liver transplant, as well as countless rock stars..David didn’t because he was broke financially, and his kidney’s were also gone. He was not a Good fabricate true. And the anti rejection drugs may have killed him. It is also called self medicating. And if you knew,read,or viewed anything about childhood trauma you would know that causes addictions. I’m done..I’ve wasted more time on you than you deserve.

Yup, we’re all just victims of The Deal Of The DNA, NO CHOICE WHATSOEVER in whatever kind of lives we’ve led. Take it from someone with addictive tendencies, and who has been around, and IS around as many addictive personalities as anyone here ever has been.

With all due respect to the people who have replied here, don’t play the holier than thou card with me, Debbie, or anyone who thinks that we DO have choices in this life. Otherwise, let’s just all, everyone, all 7.4 BILLION of us here right now, commit mass suicide, since we’re all just victims.

Lots of people pop up to blast Debbie when they sense she’s not around, and that the regulars have moved on from a certain thread.

Yup, we’re all just victims of chance, circumstance, DNA, no choices whatsoever. And anyone who doesn’t fall in line, say hail to the New World Order’s edicts on Diseases, Disorders and Dysfunction, well, we’re all a bunch of old, white, outmoded, EuroCentric idiots who need to die so the more tolerant and inclusive among us can rule the world. Those who can set it straight from those of us who believe people need to adhere to standards of behavior and comport ourselves a certain way in the civil society.

God forbid that personal responsibility should have a place in society anymore.

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